Marry The Night
by rogue-writer-spn
Summary: Another story about what would happen when you mix girls with Monkeys. Emma, Maude and Candida head out to stalk some monkeys through their Europe tour, only one way this could end.
1. Chapter 1

"I can't believe this is freaking happening,"

My voice was strained, I let out a loud groan after the words and started hopping from one foot to the other impatiently. I was not good in situations like this, it made an ugly side of myself appear, I was not good at waiting, especially not when it was making me suffer.

"This is ridiculous," I hissed to the black haired girl to my side.

Candida smirked slowly, obviously finding my distress really amusing, which naturally just pissed me off even more. Instead of trying to make her understand how much I was suffering I turned to the girl at my other side, Maude seemed more sympathetic, but it seemed like they had both agreed to find this amusing. Not sure when this agreement had happened but I wasn't really that happy with it, they had both come with me to stand in line because that's what girls did, they did everything together.

We had met up just a few hours before, me and Maude had made the trip in my tiny red car that had been pimped into a monkey shagging wagon just for the occasion. We met up with Candida at the hotel and had already made that place more dangerous than it should be for a while before we had gone to the venue. I had been shivering in my black fake leather skirt, of course people had commented about the fact that I must have regretted wearing it by then, but I replied with a simple 'just wait till he sees me, y'all will all regret not having worn something this short.' At least my Guns & Roses shirt was keeping me warm along with a thick bright red coat. Once we got inside it was too warm as to have been expected of course, it was never going to just to be alright. Gaining a spot right up front wasn't that difficult, we had gotten in as one of the first ones, plus we had friends in even closer places. The entire place was buzzing with energy and apparently, that was enough to force me to find the nearest bathroom, along with the entire female population of Germany.

And so we ended up in the longest line that I had ever been in, Maude and Candida by my side like true friends and laughing at me like best friends only could do. I was still hopping from one foot to the other, having one seen a show where they found that hopping really did help to control the bladder. But it didn't take me very long to get completely sick of it. My dark brown eyes started to scan my surroundings and that was when I noticed a door without a line in front of it. It was only logical that a show like this only attracted girls, which automatically meant that the men's room was completely deserted. My lips turned into a slight grin and it didn't take my dear friends long to realize that I was up to something.

"Emma," Maude said, looking at me like I had just sprung a couple of antlers.

Before continuing she looked around, I laughed softly, figuring that she was looking just in case I had seen one of the guys and that was why I was smirking. I shook my head before pointing towards the completely deserted door, grinning widely as I skipped out of the line that we were in and towards the other door.

"What are you gonna do, pee in a urinal?" Maude called after me. I turned towards her, still smirking.

"Dude, right now, I will if I have to," with that I disappeared into the deserted bathroom, letting out a loud laugh as I found it even more empty than I thought. Maude and Candida were behind me rather quickly and I grinned widely, pointing towards the wall,

"Stalls, I don't even have to pee in a urinal,"

"Too bad, would have paid to see you do that," Candida mentioned, I shoved her playfully before crawling into the stall and finally feeling some kind of relief. I heard the door open and close, could have sworn that I heard Candida and Maude gasp or squee or something in between that. I figured that they had just seen some kind of bug or something, but then again, that would have caused a bit more of a scream then a squee. It got eerily quiet for a moment but then I started to hear voices again, I thought it was just Maude talking to Candida and as I got out of the stall I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, other than the fact that there were weird expressions on my two friends' faces.

"Y'all see a ghost or something?" I asked them, raising my eyebrow slightly as I moved to wash my hands.

"I think you're in the wrong bathroom," the sound of an unfamiliar voice nearly made me cause a waterfall to explode from the faucet and I turned around quickly, tilting my head slightly at the new person, didn't take my long to place him though.

"Well, maybe you're the one that's in the wrong bathroom," I had no idea where the boldness came from, but at least I got a smile back.

"Since when do girls' bathrooms have urinals?" Will said, pointing towards the opposite wall. Shit, hadn't thought about that. I bit my lip and tilted my head slightly, "Huh, would ya look at that," was all that I could really come up with to say.

The door opened again and all four pairs of eyes shot towards it, it wasn't until another male appeared that three of us moved again. Candida was still frozen in her spot.

"You three aren't boys," was his first comment.

"You can't prove that," Maude replied before I had to chance to toss out the same witty comment, we shared a look and a wide grin before looking back at Mr Big Ben, finding that our grins were mimicked in the two men that were standing in front of us.

"But I'm sure that Candida would be happy to let you try and prove it," I added, nudging the black haired beauty at my side, who just shot me a look of pure hell and hatred, making my grin even bigger. Ben seemed a bit flustered by the comment though, almost like he wasn't expected for something like that to be tossed at him. I figured that he wasn't expecting to meet three girls in the men's bathroom either, then again, we weren't really expecting to find a monkey and Will there either, or should we just count Will as a monkey now too? Before my mind could start to ponder that option Ben moved, turning towards Will and announcing that his reason for being was to find him because they had to get back and probably do some kind of funky monkey stuff. They left before we could really process what had just happened and the three of us exchanged looks for a few moments.

"Told you this was an amazing idea!" I then nearly shouted, Maude, Candida and I laughed for a moment, still trying to come to terms with what had just happened. It was then that Candida punched me on the side of my arm.

"What the hell!"

"You know why,"

"…Oh, like you wouldn't have let him,"

Can't deny that if she had told another monkey what I had told Ben that I would have been angry with her as well, but something had to be said, Ben had to be made uncomfortable, it was too much fun not to.

"Well, at least we got an improv idea now," Maude said, I grinned, knowing exactly what was going to come out of her mouth next.

"Meeting girls in the boys' bathroom!"


	2. Chapter 2

Watching people get completely caught up in their music, expressing themselves through their instruments, it was one of the most enchanting things and I highly doubted that there would ever be anything that was more intriguing to me. Music was something that could consume a person completely and being there to be able to see that was a gift, a miracle almost. It was something that I would have been able to watch for hours and days on end, but all good things came to an end, and even this perfect showing of musical talent came to an end. The fact that the men that were on the stage that night were ridiculously handsome made me feel like the entire night was a porn movie made just for me. Of course, this was a thought that I could only ever share with my two best girls, there was no way that I would have said it out loud. At least I wouldn't have had I been completely and utterly sober after the show.

"My god, it's like… the best porn ever made!" my voice seemed to sound throughout the streets of Frankfurt, and from the looks that I was getting from people, the people of Germany were not appreciate my openness about my love for pornography. I was in luck, I was with my two best friends, which meant that I wasn't the only one that was drunk. I felt two arms around my neck, and a body leaning against me, my nostrils were filled with the scent of smoke.

"I love youuuu," Candida sang into my ear, I giggled, shrugging her off of my shoulders and skipping ahead of the two others girls for a moment. It was freezing outside, for days it had been close to freezing and even closer to snow, but I couldn't be bothered by it, my bright red coat was open, my legs were freezing because all that covered them was a thin layer of nylon.

"You're gonna fall on your face if you keep that up," Maude shouted at me, though if anyone was going to fall over, it was her, her steps were faltering, which was amusing as hell to me of course.

"No, I'm not, I'm walking on air, bitches!" I giggled again, running back to my two favorite girls and wrapping one arm around Maude's neck and the other around Candida's, a smile on my face so huge that it would have cracked my face had I been made of stone.

"He looked so good," Maude commented, I didn't skip a beat to reply.

"Pure sex on a stick," my words were slurring slightly, I could blame that on the alcohol of course, the dirty words, those were all mine.

"Ben is perfection…. Perfection on a stick," Candida said in a dreamy voice that made me and Maude grin at each other for a moment. We were all lost to the perfection that were those men on the stage, it was only natural, girls would always be in love with a boy that was holding a guitar, it was the way that nature had intended it. I just got even luckier, I got two friends that I got to share my obsession with, there was nothing better than that.

The giggling continued, the talking continued, too loud for anyone's liking, but we didn't notice, we were having way too much fun walking around. This was perfect, ultimate, I didn't think that this moment could get any better, it truly couldn't. And seeing as it just couldn't get better, the only way was down, way down. I would probably never find out how it happened, with the alcohol level that was coursing through my veins at that moment anything could have happened. Before I knew it I was on the ground, flat on my stomach. At first I didn't even realize what had just happened, I just lied there for a few moments before I started giggling to myself. Slowly I turned onto my back, looking up at the two beautiful faces of my friends.

"Gravity, thou heartless bitch," I said, grinning widely.

"Oh my god! Are you alright!" Candida was obviously more prone to freaking out with alcohol in her system.

I rested my hand against my forehead, my expression dramatic, my voice was even worse, "I feel so faint, it must be the Jackson overdose!" I couldn't hold the serious expression for long though, started giggling right after the word overdose had left my mouth.

"She's fine, come on, princess," Maude hovered over me slightly, obviously trying to help me get up but failing and swaying for a bit before falling over herself, right on top of me. After letting out a groan I started laughing, tilting my head to look at my brown haired friends.

"Hey… why do you get to be on top?" while me and Maude were giggling to ourselves on the floor, Candida took it upon herself to keep freaking out, bouncing and running laps around us as if she was trying to create some kind of forcefield to protect us. It took Candida a few minutes to get her shit together and be able to get Maude off of the floor. I stretched out slightly, blinking and rolling back onto my stomach just for the hell of it, and it was then that I noticed something that wasn't there before.

"Damn, those are some big boots," I muttered to myself, like a child that had just discovered a new bug I stared at the brown boots in front of me, shifting slightly to poke my finger against it, maybe just to make sure that it was real.

"Are you alright?" it wasn't until then that I realized that the boots had to be attached to something, or rather, someone. I lifted my head slightly, looking up along a pair of legs, smirking softly to myself before I finally got to his torso and ended up at a face that I could have sworn looked familiar, but couldn't place it right in that moment, or maybe I could place him, but just wasn't able to believe that it was really him. He reached out, grabbing a firm hold of both my arms and before I knew it I was back on my feet, and a lot closer to the man than I had expected. We stared into each other's eyes for a moment before I realized that he had asked me a question.

"Yeah, yes, I'm fine, clumsy as hell, but fine nonetheless," I looked back up at him again. "You are really handsome," I blurted out, tiling my head slightly. I could have sworn that I saw him blink in surprise of my words, but he smirked a second after that and I was way too distracted to even look at his eyes at that point. I smiled back at him slowly, shifting my weight slightly in an attempt to turn around to see where Candida and Maude had gone, but as soon as I put my weight onto my right foot I realized that my initial comment had been wrong.

"Yeah, I take it back, I don't think I'm okay,"

It was almost like all the alcohol that had been rushing through my system this entire time was drained out of me within that one second. I tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear, shifting my weight onto my left foot instead and resting my hand against his shoulder to keep my balance. It seemed like I wasn't the only one that sobered up rather quickly, Maude rested her hand against my back, trying to keep me up. With one friend accounted for I looked around for the other, noticing her talking to someone else, at least the alcohol was still lingering in someone's system, Candida seemed rather comfortable talking to her 'perfection on a stick'. I figured that she hadn't even noticed that I was back on my feet again, but I couldn't blame her for it, besides, as soon as her eyes met mine and she saw that I was trying to balance myself on one foot she rushed over, her voice a few pitches higher than usual as she asked me what was wrong.

I shook my head slightly, "Don't worry about it, klutzes with weak ankles just shouldn't drink," it was the easiest way to explain, this wasn't exactly my first ankle situation.

Between the fall, the alcohol, the sudden appearance of the man in boots, Candida talking to her perfection on a stick, it was all a lot to talk in and I wasn't really sure what to think about all of it. If Ben was over there, talking to Candida, then there was a really big chance that the man that was still holding onto me was really who I thought he was. That alone was almost enough to knock me back against the ground.

"Maybe we should get you inside, make sure your foot's alright," I looked up at him, smiling softly and tucking a piece of my hair behind my ear again, I didn't really want to be a burden, but then again, we had a long walk ahead of us, taking a break might be better, it wouldn't take me long to be able to walk again. I nodded slowly and he wrapped his arm around my waist.

"I'm Jackson, by the way"

"Yes, you really are, aren't you," I breathed, shaking my head slightly, the comment seemed to amuse him as well.

"I'm Emma."


	3. Chapter 3

Between Maude and myself we had probably gone over every single possible way that we could come face to face with the man that we both dreamed about on a daily basis. Falling for the same guy was a death sentence to most friendships, but Jackson had always been just a fantasy for the two of us, so there was no harm in us both liking him. Even though we had gone through so many possible scenarios, I was pretty sure that me falling on my face, spraining my ankle and meeting Jackson that was hadn't been among the many things that we had come up with. Still, now that it was happening, it was definitely my favorite. I fell over a lot, I was pretty much a walking talking disaster. On the days that I didn't fall over, I would bump my head against something, I would accidentally trip down the stairs, not a day went by that I didn't hurt myself, and this was the first time in my life that I was more than grateful for this clumsy part in my personality. With his arm around my waist, the same arm that I had been staring at for the past few hours as it tensed and relaxed as he played the many instruments on the stage, I was pretty unaware of anything else. I knew that Candida and Maude were right by my side the entire time, but, as terrible as I felt to admit it, I was kind of caught up in the man in boots.

"Alright, sit down here for a sec,"

I had barely noticed that we had already made it inside and before I knew it I was on a more than comfy couch and looked around to accustom myself for the part of the venue that I hadn't seen just yet. It wasn't that special, but I felt pretty damn lucky to see it anyway.

My two friends hovered near the door and even though I could see that Candida was trying so hard not to get distracted by her perfection on a stick, I knew that she was dying to get closer to him. I smirked softly, nodding towards her and mouthing 'go get him'. Her face flushed for a moment, almost like she hadn't expected me to know what she really wanted to do. I grinned, suddenly remembering something that she always said that she would do. Before I knew it, I was lip-syncing a part of the most horrible song, ending with the signature hip trust at the 'I wanna get freaky with you' part. Candida giggled, rolling her eyes, Maude laughed and shook her head slightly, both of which made the man in boots turn to them and then back to me, a soft grin resting around his lips.

I blinked, praying to all the gods that he had not just seen me do what I did and shifted on the couch slightly, deciding to just shed my coat in order to give myself something to do, as he brought a chair and set it down across from me, sitting down on it slowly. Why was his every move so sensual, just watching him sitting down on a chair made me want to bit my lip and exhale shakily. I shifted again, accidentally using my right foot to move and wincing slightly, now I was a sitting disaster. Maude still hovered near the door, smiling at me softly before grinning slowly and shifting her eyes between me and the man in boots, I couldn't help but smile back at her, then finally allowing my eyes to settle on the man in front of me.

He was careful as he gently rested my leg onto his thigh, I tried not to get lost in the fact that his hand was against my leg and tried to focus on what he was actually doing.

"So, what? You're a doctor along with all your many other talents?"

There was that grin again, there was no way that I could keep my lips from forming a soft smile as I looked at him, tucking my hair behind my ear again before resting my hands against the couch on either side of my legs, sitting up a bit more.

"Not exactly, but I've seen my fair share of sprained ankles,"

"Yeah, bet you have girls falling for you all the time," as soon as the words left my mouth I could feel the faint rush moving along my neck and cheeks, making my normally pale white skin turn slightly pink. He didn't look up at him, but I could see the smile that was curling his lips again, at least he wasn't laughing at me, just smiling, that wasn't too bad.

"Not quite like this though,"

"Good, I'm still special then," I really had to learn to shut up.

The black cowboy boot was eased off easily enough, I winched again slightly but it wasn't too bad, it was good to know that he could be gentle in times like this, I made sure to make a mental note of that. I had to admit, he could have fooled me with being a doctor, the way that he kept his gaze on my ankle, though I could have sworn his gaze moved for a second, but that was probably just my own imagination. Without me realizing it my tongue moved along my lips as he rested his hand against my leg again, biting down on my bottom lip as I tilted my head slightly.

"How does it feel?"

"Pretty damn good," I breathed, he smirked as he looked up at me and I couldn't stop myself from turning a little red again.

I was not one to be embarrassed by what I said, I wasn't one to be ashamed of the word vomit that flooded out of my mouth every five minutes. But that was under normal circumstances, in this case, everything was different. Part of me was convinced that I had hit my head against the pavement so hard that this was just some kind of dream, that I was going to wake up in the hospital in a few minutes because I got knocked out by the concrete.

For a moment his attention seemed caught by something, I furrowed my eyebrows slightly before I noticed what it was that he was tilting his head at. His hand moved to trace his fingers against the top of my foot gently, I couldn't help but twitch my foot slightly.

"Tickles," I murmured when he looked up at me to check if I was alright.

"Sorry," there was that damn smirk again, it was going to be the death of me.

"'S alright," it wasn't like I wanted him to stop touching me, even if it was just my foot, at this point and contact with him was fine with me.

"I can't give you my expert doctor opinion," he said, very gently resting my foot back onto the floor, which almost made me pout like a little kid because I had been very comfortable sitting that close to him. "But I think you'll be alright, ya might want to sit for a bit longer though," he added. I wanted to open my mouth to tell him that I would sit wherever he wanted me to, but I managed to stop myself before I actually said it, instead I just nodded slowly. Sitting was probably a good thing, I needed a moment to think about everything that had just happened in the last few minutes.

"I'll be right back," I looked up at him, and even though he said it, he made no move that suggested that he was going to get up and leave, he just sat there for a minute longer. It took me a moment to realize that he was leaning closer, my breath hitched in my throat and I couldn't take my eyes off of his. The bright green was almost hypnotizing and I couldn't look away no matter how much I wanted to because the gaze was making it really difficult to keep breathing. He smiled softly, tucking a piece of my hair behind my ear. He lingered again, staring into my eyes like he was trying to read them. For a second it seemed like he realized that he was staring, sitting back in his chair and clearing his throat before he muttered to himself and got up, walking past Maude and moving out of my sight. I could finally release the breath that I had been holding the entire time, sighing loudly.

"What the hell was that?" Maude had taken his seat and looked at me like, obviously eager for more information.

"I think I just had a heartattack," I told her, smirking softly and shaking my head. I rested my palm against my chest, feeling my heart finally catching up with the rest of my body, racing rapidly.

"Are you sure I didn't just hit my head really hard?" I asked my friend, looking up at her, not able to beat the smirk from my face.

"I'm sure, and this isn't a dream either," she replied, "If it had been, I would have been making out with him in the closet right now," she added, grinning at me. I laughed, more than I should have, but this moment was so surreal, it was laughable.


	4. Chapter 4

In the friendship between me and Maude there were barely any flaws, in fact, I could only think of one and that one had never bothered me, in fact it had made our friendship that much more fun, but out of nowhere it worried me. Falling for the same guy was never a good thing for a friendship, but the man in boots wasn't like falling in love with the boy next door so it had never caused an issue for us. And now he had been right there, would this come between us?

I was getting a head of myself of course, I mean, yeah, Jackson had just helped me inside and had seemed very caring about if I was alright. But all the facts pointed to the fact that he was just a nice guy, it wasn't like he was going to kneel down and ask me to marry him. Stressing about whether or not this would get in between mine and Maude's friendship was absolutely ridiculous and I knew that. But I was the kind of girl that just loved to think the worst of every single situation even if that meant turning a good and amazing moment into something that would lead to the death of something that I loved.

Thanks to my dear friend, I was momentarily distracted from the doom thinking as Maude sat in front of me, joking about how it couldn't have been a dream because if it had been she would have dragged him into a closet and had her way with him already. It had made me laugh, mostly because I knew it was true, we had had a lot of conversation about daydreams and fantasies, it was no news to hear what she would have done with him had this been one of her daydreams. But this wasn't a daydream, this was, apparently, as real it could get. I sighed softly, running my hands through my hair and closing my eyes for a moment as I felt his hand brushing my hair behind my ear again. It was such a small moment, such a small gesture, and yet it had the hairs on my neck standing up and my heart racing.

"So, that was really him?"

"Yup,"

"He had his arm around my waist,"

"Yup,"

"He took off my shoe,"

"Yup,"

"He touched my foot,"

"Are you trying to make me jealous?"

I opened my eyes and looked up at Maude, smiling softly and then shaking my head as I sat up, resting my hand against my ankle. This was probably the first and only time that I had ever been grateful for having weak ankles, definitely had to call my mother and thank her for it. I looked up at Maude and leaned back on the couch for a moment, smirking as I rested my leg onto her lap.

"Would you like to touch my foot?" my eyes were pretty much sparkling with the smile that was resting on my lips in that moment. Before the tour we had talked about touching each other in every spot where Jackson had touched us, I doubt either of us had expected that it would be my foot. Maude grinned back at me for a moment before shoving my leg off of her lap and I gasped like she had just hurt me in the most immense way.

"How could you, I'm hurt you know," I told her, but I couldn't keep it up for long, my lips curled into a smirk again soon enough.

"You can take it," Maude simply replied. "Where did our pale friend go?"

I shrugged.

"Not sure, told her to go get freaky with her perfection on a stick, maybe she did, I think she was still a little drunk."

Only way that Candida would really be able to actually go and talk to her perfection on a stick was if she was still a little drunk. The girl looked like she had seen and done it all, but she was softie at heart and shyer than me and Maude put together, but with a little stimulation of some alcohol she suddenly wasn't so shy anymore.

I leaned over to get my black boot off of the floor, hoisting myself off of the couch and still trying not to put too much weight onto my right foot, I wasn't really in the mood to make it even worse, at some point we had to get to the hotel and get some sleep, it was a long drive back in the morning. With the man in boots somewhere in the building, not knowing what he was doing, I figured that we best look for our lost friend and see what she was up to, or who she was up to.

"Come on," I told my brownhaired friend, tugging on her arm to get her to come with me, this place was filled with monkeys, no way was I going to roam around by myself.

It didn't really take us that long to find who we were looking for, all we had to do was peak our heads outside of the door and look into the other room.

"Oh my," Maude whispered at my side, I couldn't help but giggle softly, even though I knew that my giggle sounded absolutely ridiculous. I couldn't stop myself from moving through the small hallway and towards the doorway of the other room. Candida and her Mr perfection on a stick were against each other, and seemingly wrapped around one another. As if we had it planned Maude stood on one side of the door and I stood on the other, our heads slightly tilted towards each other as we watched the couple with an interest that was probably unhealthy.

"Enjoying the show?" the voice startled us both and Maude and me turned quickly, pressing our backs against the wall on each side of the door. A beautiful dark colored man stood in front of his, sunglasses shielding his eyes, his smile showing his teeth as he apparently found it very amusing that we were staring at the two that were enjoying each other's company.

"We weren't staring or anything," I said, trying to save ourselves somehow.

"We're not perverts," Maude added.

I raised my eyebrow slightly and looked at her, "We're not? Since when?" I asked her, grinning widely.

"Well, not the kind that stares at our friend sticking her tongue down a guy's throat,"

"Right, we're not that kind of perverts,"

During our entire defense the beautiful dark man just smiled at us, he moved slightly to look into the room and me and Maude took it as an opportunity to take another peak; the two had not even noticed a thing. To be honest, my first thought was to drag Candida out of that room and drag her into another to get every single juicy detail of what happened. But then again, if I had been in her shoes and stood in that room with my tongue down the man in boots' throat, I wouldn't have really enjoyed being interrupted.

Even though I was distracted, I couldn't help but notice the sound of footsteps coming closer, I turned and found him only a few more feet away from me, as soon as his eyes met mine I smiled, finding that he answered it with a half smile before casting his eyes down to his feet for a moment. For a second I thought that I had done something wrong, but I found myself doing the same rather quickly after, brushing my hair behind my ear and shifting my feet slightly. I cleared my throat and out of nowhere decided to just shove my boot back onto my foot, as I tried to balance myself onto my left foot he had cleared the distance and he rested his hand against my back to make sure that I didn't fall to the floor again.

"Feeling better?"

"Yes, much, thanks to you,"

"I barely did anything,"

"Don't be so sure of that, you got some magical hands there, Major Monroe,"

How many mistakes could one person make in one sentence. Even though I smiled softly after I said it, I felt horrified having just pretty much told him that I enjoyed his hands and then calling him something that I never said out loud unless I was talking to Maude or Candida. Jackson seemed a bit confused but for some reason he decided not to press the matter and just smiled at me, stepping back slightly when I set my foot back onto the ground, though his hand stayed against my back.

"Well, I'm glad I could help," he said softly, almost whispered it to me, like I was the only one that was allowed to hear it. In the moment that he looked at me it was like no one else was there, it was just me and him in that hallway, his eyes resting on mine, his hand against my back. Why did every perfect moment have to get ruined?

"Hey, you feeling better?"

I didn't even respond right away, it took me a moment to tear my eyes away from the man in boots and turn them towards my pale friend who had finally managed to tear herself away from her perfection on a stick, Mr Big Ben. All I could do was smile and nod for the moment, feeling how Jackson's hand left my back and leaving me feeling cold and lost for some reason.

"Ben," he said, I hadn't even noticed that he was standing behind Candida until Jackson said something to him.

"You have a little… lipstick… pretty much everywhere."


	5. Chapter 5

I had never been in love, I had always kind of accepted that it might just never happen to me. The way that I felt about the man in boots, before I ever met him, didn't count as being in love, not to me it didn't. Being in love was so much more than just liking the way that someone looked and seeing as I never knew him personally, I had always denied that I was in love with him, because I felt that love was something that went deeper. Love was an abstract notion that I had just never gotten acquainted with, something that I might never get to know or learn about. Accepting that love might never happen to you is something that I think everyone goes through at some point, I had every reason to think that it had just skipped past me. Everyone around me had been in love, or was still in love, they had all experience it and lived it, where was still behind, waiting for it to find me. I would be lying if I said that I went to Frankfurt expecting to finally be faced with love, expecting to finally feel what everyone else had already experienced. And I would also be lying if I said that I hadn't hoped for it all to happen anyway, who could blame a girl for dreaming?

No one had ever walked me home before, at least not quite like this, and technically we weren't heading home, we were headed towards the hotel where me, Maude and Candida were staying for the night. But the idea was the same, he walked next to me, his hands were in his pockets, like mine were tucked into my own. I liked to think that we both didn't know what to do with our hands, so we just tucked them away to keep ourselves from doing something stupid.

Maude and Candida walked ahead, even though they were a few feet ahead of us, I head no trouble figuring out what they were talking about, it was obvious in Candida's movements, her smile whenever she turned her face slightly so that I could see her expression. Ben and Candida took a while saying goodbye to one another, for a second I could have sworn that she would just stay because her perfection on a stick seemed to want her to, but she went back with us. After he got the lipstick off of his face he continued to stare at Candida like she was something so beautiful that he just couldn't look away, which made me rather hopeful that maybe now the girl would start believing it herself. At first Jay just walked us to the door, but he soon decided to walk with us, shrugging into his coat and stepping outside, walking next to me. I'm still not sure which one of us decided to slow down our walk, but before I knew it, we were behind the other two, out of ear shot, and smiling at each other every now and then before looking away again. It wasn't uncomfortable, it was quite the opposite, the silence almost felt natural, it was almost like we didn't have to talk, we could just walk and have it be alright.

"Am I gonna see you again?"

The question kind of startled me and I looked up at him, he looked at me for a second before looking away again, but I could see a soft smile resting around his lips. It was nice to see this side of him, where he was all suggestive and down right dirty on stage, this was something else entirely, I would never be able to pick my favorite, but this side was one that I could also get used to very easily.

"Be careful, that almost sounds like you want to see me again," I replied teasingly, there was a piece of truth in every teasing reply, I wanted him to want to see me again.

I tucked a piece of my hair behind my hair, it seemed to be becoming my nervous habit whenever I was around him, I couldn't stop myself from doing it, like I just had to keep my hands busy in order to keep myself from doing something stupid, again. Along with not being able to stop touching my hair, I couldn't really stop smiling either, and as our eyes made contact again that smile only grew. He gave me a half grin and I could feel my heart skipping a beat because of it. I exhaled softly, shakily even, my breath forming a small cloud in front of my face as I turned my gaze in front of us again, I felt like if I looked at him straight for too long that I would lose my balance again and fall over. I had already done that once, really shouldn't do it again, I had already made enough of a fool of myself for one night.

"If you can pick me out of a crowd, then yes," I finally told him.

"I don't think that I'll have too much trouble picking you out of a crowd,"

The smile that was on his face as he said it made me want to believe him, but I was a born pessimist and I was not good at accepting positive things from others, I was a seeing is believing kind of girl. Nonetheless, it was nice to hear, and I could feel my cheeks burning a soft shade of pink before I turned my eyes away from his face again.

"I hope that's true," I muttered under my breath.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Good question, Major Monroe, and I had absolutely no way of answering it. I just shrugged, trying to smile as I looked back up at him. I wanted to tell him that he wouldn't notice me because I was nothing special, because there were others that would stand out more than me. But I had been working hard on no longer talking myself down and saying anything like that would shatter that hard work down completely.

"Hey," as he said it, his hand brushed against my cheek, brushing my hair behind my ear. It caught me off guard and I had to stop walking for a second, my eyes fluttered closed without me ever giving them permission to and my heart was beating in my throat instead of my chest. It seemed that my reaction to his touch had caught him as off guard as his touch had caught me off guard and he looked at me, tilting his head slightly.

"Are you alright?" he sounded genuinely worried, it made my heart flutter even more.

"I told you," I replied, slightly breathless and not even trying to hide it anymore. "You have magic hands, Major Monroe," I added, smiling as I looked up at him. His hand was resting against my shoulder and I moved to rest my hand on top of his. "I'm fine," I told him softly.

Somehow, and I'm not quite sure how it happened, after I rested my hand on his, as his rested on my shoulder, it ended with us walking hand in hand. I had never held hands before so it was something that fascinated me to no end. I kept glancing down at the way that his much larger hand was wrapped around mine, smiling to myself. When he noticed my gaze he smirked, shifting his hand slightly to lace his fingers through mine, almost like he was trying to tell me that it was alright, that I wasn't doing anything wrong. It was the most amazing feeling that had ever come over me. It was so simple, so easy to just walk there with our fingers laced together, like we had been doing it for years.

The hotel came into sight much too soon and I felt myself wanting to slow my walk even more, I wanted to turn around and walk back. I didn't want to stop holding his hand, I didn't want to stop smiling and tucking my hair behind my ear just because he was there with me. I felt a rock dropping into my stomach as we stopped in front of the hotel, I couldn't help but feel like this moment that we just shared was already over. He would be in another city by tomorrow, what could really happen?

Maude looked at me for a moment, smiling softly before tugging Candida inside, we didn't even have to say anything. Me and Maude hadn't known each other that long, but barely any words were necessary between us, that went for all three of us actually. Once they were inside and out of sight I kept my gaze on the building, not wanting to turn around because I knew that he'd just say goodbye and leave.

"So," there it was, the start of the goodbye.

"So," I replied, nothing witty came to mind this time.

"When will I have to pick you out of the crowd?" the way he asked made me smile and I turned to face him. Before I could stop myself I reached out with my free hand, my other still holding onto his, brushing his hair from his forehead a bit, my eyes watching as my fingers moved against his skin and hair.

"Next week, Amsterdam," seven days, I had to wait seven days to find out what would come of this. A week had never sounded longer.

"Right, next week," he said, almost like he was thinking it over a few times, "That's a long time," he replied, laughing softly after having said it, it made me smile again.

"It is,"

Neither of us moved, maybe he was as against saying goodbye as I was, maybe he wanted to stay as much as I wanted him to stay. Maybe I was getting ahead of myself again, but the way that his fingers teased against mine, it made the butterflies in my stomach flutter. It wasn't until then that I realized that there were even butterflies in my stomach.

He sighed and bit his bottom lip, and then I saw him step back a bit, like he had to distance himself slightly or he was never going to be able to make himself move, or maybe that was just what I wanted to tell myself.

"I'll see you next week," there was a tone of sadness in his voice, at least, I thought there was, I could have sworn that there was.

"I'll see you next week," there was definitely a tone of sadness in my voice.

His hand slipped from mine and he continued to step back, his eyes stayed on mine for a while before he waved and turned around finally. At that point, I wasn't sure what came over me, I could only think one thing; 'don't leave me'.

"Hey Monroe," the words left my mouth before I could think it over, and I saw him stop, saw him turn around. There wasn't really any turning back now.

I ran, quickly closing the few feet of space that he had put between us, before I knew it I was right in front of him again. The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering, my heart was racing and pounding that I could have sworn that it was trying to beat out of my chest and fly about the sky. He seemed confused at first, but I smiled, resting my nearly freezing hands against his neck and pulling him towards me. It all felt like it was going murderously slow. Him leaning closer to me, me moving closer to him and feeling the soft press of his body against mine and then finally I could feel the brush of his lips against mine.

The kiss was soft, light, but it was making my head swoon and it made my knees buckle slightly. If he hadn't wrapped his arms around my waist I probably would have gone against the ground again. I kept my eyes closed as I pulled back, resting my forehead against his, smiling like a loon.

"I would have hated myself tomorrow if I didn't," I whispered to him.

"I would have come back tomorrow if you hadn't," he whispered back, the smile that was on his lips obviously sounding through in his voice.

I pulled back just enough to look up at him,

"Then can we pretend I didn't, and you can still come back tomorrow," I asked him hopefully, smiling widely still.

My man in boots smiled, leaning closer to brush his lips against mine again, a bit more firmly than last time, but still gently, like he was afraid that I'd run if he pushed it too far.

"Goodnight, Emma," he whispered against my lips, my hands tried to get him closer, he responded by wrapping his arms tighter around my waist. It took me a moment before I was able to pull back.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Monroe,"


End file.
